


The Kindle

by loveheartlover



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M, kittens be here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-04
Updated: 2014-06-04
Packaged: 2018-02-03 10:39:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1741706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loveheartlover/pseuds/loveheartlover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blaine comes home with a kindle, but it turns out to be a little... fluffier than Kurt expects.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Kindle

“Blaine, what are you hiding?”

“Nothing. I, er, I got a kindle.”

“Oh, Carole has one of those. She uses it to read on breaks at work, we were thinking about getting one for Dad for Christmas. Is that the thing your aunt sent you?”

“Well, no, she sent me a book. I didn’t buy the kindle.”

Kurt frowned, putting the cookbook he had been reading down and turning to stare at his husband. Or rather, at the cardboard box Blaine was trying to hide behind his back. The cardboard box that was far too large to just be holding a kindle.

“Thirty seconds.”

Blaine swallowed. “Did you know that the name for a group of kittens is a-”

“Kindle,” Kurt finished, closing his eyes and rubbing his forehead wearily. “Tell me you didn’t.”

“I had to. I was walking home and I heard this really pathetic noise coming from the alley, and when I went to investigate they were all huddled up in the dirt and the cold. Their mum was there but she was dead Kurt, I couldn’t let them die too! I am going to have nightmares about her body, lying prone in the-”

“Okay, I get it, the dead cat is very sad, and I’m sorry you had to see that. But do you know anything about taking care of kittens?”

Blaine shook his head, looking so pathetic that Kurt took pity and cleared off the coffee table. “Put them down here, let’s take a look at them. My Aunt Elle runs a cat rescue in Virginia, I’ve spent enough summers there that I have a vague idea of what they might need.”

Inside the box were three scraps of fur, eyes and ears closed, huddled together in a corner. Kurt frowned as he lifted out the smallest kitten, a tiny tortoiseshell. “Blaine, these guys aren’t even a week old. They’re going to need around the clock care, feeding every two hours, they won’t even be capable of regulating their own body temperatures.”

“We can’t just abandon them,” Blaine insisted, eyes wide and pleading. “Please Kurt, I think we can do this.”

Kurt exhaled slowly, and then nodded. “Take some towels and blankets down to the laundry room and put them in the dryer, and then go to Elliott’s. He rescues strays sometimes so he’ll have some stuff we can borrow- a heat lamp, milk powder, bottles. If he doesn’t have any to spare, he’ll be able to tell you where to buy them. On your way back pick the blankets back up, we need to try and keep them warm. We need to focus on getting them through the night, and tomorrow we’ll take them to the vet.”

Blaine was gone in an instant, pulling his coat back on as he sprinted out the door with arms full of blankets, leaving Kurt with a mewling fuzzball in his palm.

“Okay then,” he said, “Let’s get you three fixed up, hmm? You can’t stay in a damp box all night, but until Blaine comes back I’m a little limited in what I can do for you.”

After setting the tortoiseshell back into the box, Kurt dug through the hall closet for the thick, woollen bag he had been given by Rachel a few weeks ago after she took up knitting, before filling up a hot water bottle and sliding it inside, leaving the bag on the kitchen counter as he returned to the kittens. Picking up the smallest kitten again, he gently worked his way across her body, checking for fleas and ear mites, before letting her sit on his lap as he repeated the same treatment with the two others, both boys given their red tabby coats.

Kurt had just finished putting the three of them into the wool bag- the hot water bottle removed- when Blaine returned, laden down with bags and blankets.

“Are they okay?”

“They’re fine, I’m trying to keep them warm,” Kurt explained, taking the blankets and setting them down in their laundry basket. “They have fleas, and the little girl has ear mites so I expect her brothers will have them soon as well. Did Elliott have milk?”

Blaine nodded, emptying out the bags before plugging in the heat lamp and arranging it over the basket. “He offered to watch the kittens while we’re both at work, and he’s emailed us the details of the vet he uses. Apparently they do a discount for things like this, so- Wait, how do you know she’s a girl?”

“It’s almost impossible for tortoiseshells to be male. The other two are boys, though.”

Blaine paused, and Kurt could practically see the cogs in his head turning as he processed this new information, before he knelt down by the bag holding the kittens and lifted the three of them out. “We’re going to have to name them,” he said thoughtfully as he deposited them in the laundry basket, watching Kurt mix up the milk formula.

“If we name them, you’re going to want to keep them. We are not keeping them.”

“You always said you wanted a cat.”

“Yes, a cat. Not three kittens, who will grow into three cats. We can keep them until they’re old enough to wean, but then we’re going to rehome them.”

“But Kurt-”

“No, Blaine.”

Over the next few days, Blaine underwent a steep learning curve. Between Kurt and Elliott, and seven phone calls to Kurt’s Aunt Elle, he was taught how to feed, toilet, and provide general care for the kittens. Kurt couldn’t seem to go more than an hour without reminding Blaine not to get too attached, but Blaine wasn’t worried. He only had to watch the way Kurt handled the kittens, eyes soft and touch impossibly gentle, to be reassured that they wouldn’t be going anywhere.

Two weeks after rescuing the kittens, he came home from work to find Kurt reading on their bed, with the kittens burrowing into the soft sweater he was wearing. Kurt looked up as Blaine stepped into the room, and Blaine was surprised to find his eyes were wet.

“Kurt? Is everything okay?”

“I got attached,” Kurt said forlornly, staring down at the kittens. “We can’t give them up now.”

Blaine beamed. “So we can finally name them?”

“I guess so. I bet you’ve already picked out names for them, haven’t you?”

“No!” Blaine paused, and then blushed. “Okay, maybe. But if you don’t like them, we can pick others. I was thinking Ocher, for the big boy, since the base of his coat is the same colour, and Blitz for the smaller, since he’s got such a knack for sending everything in his wake flying.”

Kurt hummed thoughtfully, before nodding. “I like those. What were you thinking for the little girl?”

“You pick for her, I know she’s your favourite.”

“I don’t have favourites!” Kurt protested.

“Just like you weren’t getting attached, right?”

“Oh shut up. Okay, I might like her the teensiest bit more than her brothers since she’s the only one who hasn’t tried to eat my laptop charger yet.”

Blaine chuckled as he picked up the ‘twins’, tickling the fur on their heads. “Let me know when you pick out a name for the little miss. I’ll make their next feed up and get these two done and in the basket, can you bring her through in ten?.”

Kurt nodded, rolling over and lifting the kitten up. “I shouldn’t like you this much,” he informed her. “Blaine and I haven’t had sex in weeks because we're so exhausted from having to wake up to feed you. I was late to work twice this week because of you and your brothers, and the other night Ocher almost gave me a heart attack when he tried to jump off the headboard. You three will make me go prematurely grey, and I don't appreciate it.”

The kitten meowed, nudging his thumb.

“Stop it. If you weren’t so cute, Blaine and I wouldn’t be facing years of vets bills and pet insurance and having to make sure everywhere we live allows pets."

Another meow.

“I guess even absolute pains need a name though, hmm?”

Blaine had just settled Ocher into the basket with his brother when their sister was placed on his lap. Kurt sat down beside him and smiled. “Aurora. Her name is Aurora.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you ever find stray kittens, you should contact a vet straight away. They may know of nursing cats who can act as surrogates for the kittens. If this isn't possible, get advice from a cat rescue centre or anyone who has had prior experience in caring for them.


End file.
